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A geotechnical model of the Umka landslide with reference to landslides in weathered Neogene marls in Serbia

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Abstract

This paper describes a characteristic landslide model for landslides typically hosted in Neogene formations in Serbia, especially along the right banks of the Sava and Danube Rivers. It is focussed on the particular landslide Umka near Belgrade, which is a paradigm for numerous landslides in that area. Various field investigations and laboratory tests carried out in several campaigns, including 1979, 1991–1993 and 2005, underpinned the conception of a general model for this typological landslide. Additionally, a new landslide monitoring campaign started in 2010 provided supplementary data support for the model development. Landslide characteristics, sliding mechanism and material properties based on all these data are first summarised and discussed and then featured in a general model. It is assumed that the landslide is hosted in the weathered zone of grey marls and that the main sliding surface typically propagates along the contact between the fresh and weathered marls. Furthermore, the triggering is principally associated with lateral river erosion in the landslide toe, although heavy precipitation and snow melting have been witnessed to be important indirect triggers. Their correlation to the recorded displacements was difficult to determine due to complex hydrogeological relations and an isolated groundwater system, which is another common characteristic of this landslide type. Back analysis on the basis of the adopted model and the determined geotechnical parameters has been performed. The latter analysis is of particular interest because the Umka landslide is currently under consideration for a mitigation and stabilisation plan related to the construction of a new motorway route.

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Acknowledgments

This paper was presented as invited contributions at The Second Mediterranean Workshop on Landslides, “Landslides in hard soils and weak rocks—an open problem for Mediterranean countries”, Naples, 21–22 October 2013. The research was supported by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology of the Republic of Serbia Project No TR 36009 and ICL/IPL Project No 181 and would not have been possible without support from the Republic Geodetic Authority, Republic Hydrometeorological Service of Serbia and Vekom Geo, Belgrade, Serbia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Mining and Geology, University of Belgrade, Đušina 7, Belgrade, Serbia

    Biljana Abolmasov, Miloš Marjanović & Uroš Đurić

  2. Geomonitoring Team, Jurija Gagarina 111, Belgrade, Serbia

    Svetozar Milenković

  3. The Highway Institute, Kumodraška 257, Belgrade, Serbia

    Branko Jelisavac

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  1. Biljana Abolmasov
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  2. Svetozar Milenković
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  3. Miloš Marjanović
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  4. Uroš Đurić
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  5. Branko Jelisavac
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Correspondence to Biljana Abolmasov.

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Abolmasov, B., Milenković, S., Marjanović, M. et al. A geotechnical model of the Umka landslide with reference to landslides in weathered Neogene marls in Serbia. Landslides 12, 689–702 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-014-0499-4

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